EW: Generally we’ve seen you in big groups. Is it nice having these smaller stories in terms of mixing it up?COHAN: It’s interesting because when you look at the scope of the show, you get really familiar with Maggie’s relationships with Hershel and Glenn and Beth and Sasha and Tyreese, and now I think we have a whole new perspective on these characters. And as actors we’ve gotten the chance to get to know them better.
EW: I’m assuming these episodes will feel a bit different merely by the fact that you’re leaving the prison.COHAN: Yeah, we have no boundaries. We have no protection. We have little-to-no weaponry. We don’t even have places to sleep. It’s very dangerous. There are more walkers. There are people that you want to be able to trust but can’t out there. I won’t say anything about that. Tonally, each episode goes into its own little wormhole. You don’t find out what happens to some of these characters for a few episodes at least and some characters much longer than that. It’s some of the best storytelling and writing that we’ve had on the show yet.
EW: The prison set was your home for the past year and a half. What’s it feel like for you as an actress to be out and about more?COHAN: It’s really interesting because our work schedule completely changed. It was like being in a new location because we’d work for a few weeks and then start again somewhere completely different. Our poor prison went bye-bye. I mean, I didn’t build it, but a lot of work went into it.
EW: I know it’s tough for you guys when a fellow actor gets killed off. What was it like having to say goodbye to Scott Wilson?COHAN: This was the worst one. Scott is like our sage. He is like our dad. Definitely a mentor. So that scene when we shot it, Emily and I were up at the fence, and the group was behind us, and down at the bottom of the field was Scott. But then when we did our coverage, Scott came up and stood just on the other side of the fence to us. And we’re beginning the scene, and right before it happens he says, “I love you girls” and he looked at us. It wasn’t Hershel saying anything. It was Scott Wilson telling me and Emily how much this had meant to him and we love him. When he said, “I love you,” I was just there. It was not a difficult scene to emote. Robert Kirkman made a great point when we did The Talking Dead. He said, “The greater the importance of the character, the more brutal their death.” That’s definitely true with Scott. It was the most brutal death for one of the most important characters on this show, and one of the most important symbols of hope and goodness. This will be a big propelling factor in the second half of the season. How do we hold onto that moral high ground that Herschel represented and still survive? It’s an ugly, ugly world. Losing your dad is one thing, but the whole combination of this has been very tough for this whole group. It makes you wonder why people keep going. It was crazy too, because when he died in episode 8, we didn’t know what was going to come next, but this one act really is the driving force behind the whole second half. It’s so difficult to justify any character deaths in this show, so I’m not going to try. It sucks. It always sucks. You get so close on this show, but then no one is ever safe.